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Barbara
Bretton started her romance writing career 20 years ago and has been
going strong ever since. Writing
category romances and then branching out into mainstream romance,
Barbara has brought readers hours and hours of enjoyment with her
stories that are filled with love, family and well developed
characters. With
Barbara’s latest, SHORE LIGHTS, being released this month, I thought
it would be a perfect time
to interview this funny and eloquent author and get to know her
better.
Thanks
Barbara for agreeing to be a May Author of the Month!
Thea
Candee: How did your transition from category to mainstream romance
happen?
Barbara
Bretton: A wonderful editor named Judith Stern Palais had been
following my category career for awhile. She approached me about
writing single titles when she went to Berkley and it was a match made
in heaven. We worked together for eight years until she left to pursue
a new career path, at which point I was fortunate enough to be matched
up with Cindy Hwang who is one of the best. (I know there are quite a
few superlatives in this paragraph but they're all well-deserved.) An
enthusiastic editor who understands what you're doing now -- and what
you hope to do in the future -- makes all the difference when you
branch out into something new.
TC:
Do you feel more comfortable writing within the mainstream genre as
opposed to the confines, if any, of category romance?
BB:
What I love about writing mainstream is the ability to dive inside a
family and describe the dynamics from the inside out. I love family
stories – both writing them and reading them – and it struck me
that romance novels and family stories have a lot in common. Our
romantic heroes and heroines didn't spring to life on page one. They
have rich histories that make them the way they are. The information
might not make it into a category romance but it's there just the
same, lending texture and guiding the plot. In a longer mainstream
romance, you're given the space to display the love story in a larger
context.
Mainstream
is a very comfortable fit. I think it was always my natural voice. The
laser-sharp focus on hero and heroine that category demands of its
authors is a lot tougher to pull off than you might think. I've always
believed that it's infinitely harder to write a good short story than
it is to write a good novel. The same holds true with category romance
and longer mainstream romance. You don't have room for error in a
category romance. Every single element you include in your story has
to perform double and triple duty. The longer length is much more
forgiving.
I
spent my entire category career writing for Harlequin American. (I was
one of the original launch authors in 1983.) I can honestly say I
never felt confined by anything but length. We were given enormous
freedom at American to try new things. During my years there I wrote
everything: romantic comedies, romantic adventures, paranormals,
four-hanky tearjerkers, and even a touch of romantic suspense.
Confined? Not by anything but length.
As
a reader, I am a fan of long books. The thicker the book, the happier
I am. Tiny print, lots of pages – I'm in heaven! When I fall in love
with the characters in a story, I want to spend as much time with them
as possible. I want to immerse myself in their world. As a writer, I
feel much the same way. Instead of knowing I must pare down the story
to fit within the requirements of the particular category line I'm
writing for, I can allow the story's requirements to dictate its
length. What a luxury!
TC:
How long did it take you to become published, and how did you feel
when you found out?
BB:
I was lucky enough to sell the first book I ever wrote. I still can't
believe my good fortune. In late January 1982 I read that Harlequin
was looking to buy manuscripts from American writers. Now I had never
read a category romance in my life at that time but that didn't stop
me. I knew enough about Harlequin to know the style they were looking
for and I quickly wrote up a synopsis and three sample chapters and
sent them off to the New York address listed in the writer's magazine.
One week later the phone rang and Vivian Stephens, creator of
Harlequin American Romance and founder of Romance Writers of America,
said, "I like your writing but this isn't the kind of story I'm
looking to publish. Let me tell you what I'm looking for . . . "
I
listened. I took notes. What she wanted – a more realistic,
down-to-earth approach – was exactly what I was looking for, both as
a writer and a reader.
"Can
you write fast?" she asked me.
I
hadn't a clue but I said, "Yes." anyway. (During my years of
writing short stories and articles for various publications, I had
learned that whenever an editor asks if you can do something,
"yes" is the only correct answer. You can work out the
details later!)
I
burned with the desire to tell my story. I swear to you, I was on
fire! I set up my portable typewriter on our kitchen table and for the
next three weeks I wrote, wrote, wrote. The floor was waist-high with
crumpled paper. We ate frozen food and take-out pizza. I didn't answer
the phone, didn't see my friends, didn't do anything but write.
I
sent in my manuscript on Thursday February 21, 1982 and four days
later the telephone rang and I heard the amazing words, "We want
to buy your book." How I wish you could have seen me. I was
standing by the kitchen door of our North Babylon house, the picture
of cool sophistication, as I listened to Vivian Stephens explain the
terms of the deal to me. You would have thought I'd sold a first book
every single day of my life. “Yes, I said. Sounds wonderful. Thank
you so much for calling. I look forward to our association.” That
cool sophistication hung on until I put down the phone, took a deep
breath, then promptly threw up on my shoes.
I
was thirty-one years old, unagented, unschooled, unfamiliar with
anything to do with the business of publishing. To put it mildly, I
was in shock. My husband was working in Manhattan at the time (and
finishing up his degree at night) so it would be hours until I could
break the news to him. This was too exciting to waste on a phone call.
I wanted to see his face when I told him that my dream had finally
come true -- and came with a $6000 advance!
He
pulled into the driveway at midnight. I was waiting in the doorway,
holding a bottle of champagne and two glasses. I didn't have to say a
word. He knew right away and the look of joy and pride in his eyes
warms me now, years later.
There's
a wonderful honeymoon period between the sale of your first book and
its publication. Enjoy it! Savor every single drop of happiness
because when all is said and done, the advance will disappear but
these wonderful memories will be yours forever.
TC:
Do you have any advice to give to aspiring authors?
BB:
Be fearless! Don't let anyone, and I mean -anyone-, try to step on
your dream. If you believe in yourself, if you work hard and send
those stories out into the world, wonderful things can happen.
Rejection is inevitable. It's happened to all of us. Let it propel you
into trying harder. When I received a particularly painful rejection
(and, boy, some of them were killers!) I allowed myself 24 hours to
hide under the covers. Once that 25th hour arrived, I was
honor-bound to put that manuscript back into the mail and start the
process all over again.
But
the best advice of all is to write. Write something, anything, every
single day. Talent will only take you so far. Persistence can take you
the rest of the way.
TC:
How would you describe your writing style?
BB:
A friend once described the difference between my writing style and
the writing style of another friend this way: our mutual friend was
Earl Grey sipped from a china cup with pinky extended, while I was a
steaming mug of Lipton's clasped between both hands. I'm not sure how
it was meant, but I chose to take that as a compliment...
I
aim for readability. I want the story to be completely accessible. I
don't care if I'm writing about the world of the rich or the world of
my neighbor down the street, I want you to feel like you know what
makes these people tick. I try to cut through the externals and let
you inside their hearts. I want to pull you into the story and make
you forget the real world for a few hours.
You
know what I love as a reader? I love sinking so deeply into an
author's fictional world that when I finish the book, I'm surprised to
find myself right here in central New Jersey and not in 19th
century Scotland or 20th century Key West or dancing on the
rings of Saturn. The fictional world was so real, the people so
important, that my own world faded away. If I could give that kind of
experience to readers every time, I'd be a happy woman.
TC:
When do you write? When
the mood strikes or more structured between certain hours?
BB:
When "don't" I write? Even when I'm not sitting at the
keyboard, I'm writing in my head. The truth is, I don't have a
specific writing time. I guess you could say I'm a grazer-writer. I
read over the previous day's output first thing in the morning and
begin writing . . . and running out to the post office . . . and
writing . . . and making lunch . . . and writing . . . and running a
load of wash . . . and writing . . . and thinking about what to make
for dinner . . . and writing . . .
It's
a free-flowing, all-day affair for me with intense bursts of
concentration between ten p.m. and one a.m.
TC:
What elements do you strive to add to your writing?
BB:
The telling details of everyday life. My mother, who wasn't a woman
who gave advice very often, believed if you are lucky enough to be
happy at home, you'll have everything you'll ever need. I believe that
too. It seems to me that the most important decisions most of us will
ever make aren't made in a board room but at the kitchen table. You
can find more drama, romance, humor, and heartbreak in your own family
than anywhere else on earth. Family holds endless fascination for me
and, I hope, for my readers as well.
TC:
I enjoy your character driven stories.
Have you ever considered mixing your solid characters with a
more pronounced criminal element and moving into the romantic suspense
genre?
BB:
Thank you! I'm definitely a character-driven writer and reader. (And
moviegoer, for that matter. My husband likes to tease me by saying I'd
rather watch two people talk to each other for two hours than watch
LETHAL WEAPON 922.) I'm not much of a romantic suspense reader but I
adore series mysteries. (I cut my mystery teeth reading Nancy Drew,
Judy Bolton, Trixie Belden, and Perry Mason!) While I love Lawrence
Block and Robert B. Parker, I'm addicted to the cozy mysteries and
would love to try my hand at them one day for the pure fun of it.
TC:
I was a little surprised by the addition of the paranormal elements
that were in SHORE LIGHTS. What
made you decide to put those elements in?
For readers who haven’t read the book yet, the heroine’s
young child, Hannah, starts having memories and thoughts of a woman
she’s never met, the hero’s dying grandmother, Irene.
BB:
I wish I could tell you about a logical process that brought me to the
decision, but there wasn't one. That's simply the way the story first
presented itself to me. I saw the samovar, an old woman, a sad little
girl. I felt a connection between them. And I was off and running. I
own the samovar I describe in the book and it has always been a
tangible link between three generations. It is well over one hundred
old now and originally belonged to my mother's stepmother Margie, the
favorite of my grandfather's five wives. (Which, as you might guess,
is a whole other story.) Margie took my mother from a shack with no
indoor plumbing to life in a Park Avenue penthouse during the
depression. My mother literally went to sleep one night on the floor
of an unheated shack and fell asleep the next night in a feather bed,
beneath a sable coverlet. Margie was in her late 30s when she died and
she left her beloved antiques to my mother, who was still a child at
the time. Margie told her that the samovar had magical properties that
might reveal themselves to her one day and she spent many an hour
daydreaming over it, same as I did years later. Obviously I never had
the chance to meet Margie; she was long gone by the time I came
around. But when I polish the samovar I feel as if she's whispering
her stories in my ear.
For
me, that samovar has always been a source of magic and mystery. On the
one hand, I desperately wanted Aladdin to leap out and offer me three
wishes but, on the other hand, I knew it was nothing but a glorified
tea pot and not magical at all. Despite
my writerly imagination, I've always been very grounded in the real
world. I believed in what I could see with my own eyes, hear with my
own eyes, touch with my own hands. I lost both of my parents in 2001
and in both instances had the privilege of being by their side at the
moment of death. The experience changed me forever. I learned that
there is much more to this world than I can understand through the
limitations of my five senses.
I'm
not sure this really explains the how of it all. Sometimes a story, or
an element of it, comes to you in a surge of emotion and it's up to
the writer to translate that surge into words. Ask me to explain how a
story came to be and I'm likely to break out in hives!
TC:
That was very beautiful and touching.
I think that it’s your eloquence that makes your stories
really stand out. What
can readers look forward to from you in the upcoming months?
BB:
I'm putting the finishing touches on GIRLS OF SUMMER right now, my
November 2003 book for Berkley. It brings back some of the characters
we first met in A SOFT PLACE TO FALL and finally gives Hall Talbot,
Shelter Rock Cove's favorite OB-GYN, a love story of his own.
TC:
Who are some of your favorite authors?
BB:
The late Laurie Colwin is right there at the top of my list. Anne
Tyler. Kristin Hannah. Barbara Delinsky. Marian Keyes. Sophie Kinsella.
Helen Fielding. Maeve Binchy. Rosamund Pilcher. Tamar Myers. Diane
Mott Davidson. Robert B. Parker. Kathryn Lynn Davis. Sue Grafton.
Lawrence Block. Bertrice Small. Lee Harris. Amy Tan. Hilma Wolitzer.
Lorenzo Carcaterra. Janet Evanovich. Susan Isaacs. Adriana Trigiani.
Cynthia Hartwick. Alice Hoffman. Nuala O'Faolain. Jane Green.
TC:
If writing wasn’t an option, what would you be doing?
BB:
Crying.
That
was my first and probably most honest response to your question. If I
had to do something else, assuming there is anything else I'm capable
of doing, I'd say I would like to be involved in animal rescue work of
some kind.
TC:
Do you have a website where readers can learn more about you and your
books?
BB:
www.barbarabretton.com
-- thanks for asking!
Barbara@barbarabretton.com
Thanks
again Barbara. I
appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to answer my
questions. Readers, if you want to read my review of SHORE LIGHTS,
Barbara’s latest release, click below.
Thea
Candee
(Click
here for a review of SHORE LIGHTS)
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